• Address heritage and traditional construction skills shortages by supporting targeted pilot programmes, identifying training gaps, and scaling successful approaches across regions and nations

• Increase awareness and attractiveness of heritage and traditional building careers, while improving access to relevant training to attract new entrants and grow demand for skills development

• Strengthen collaboration and leadership across Government, industry, educators, and other stakeholders to better coordinate skills and training initiatives

• Improve workforce competence by encouraging cross-skilling between heritage construction and retrofit specialists, helping to meet both conservation needs and net zero objectives

• Remove barriers to sector growth by addressing procurement challenges and enabling a more diverse and capable supply chain to access opportunities.

Heritage and traditional buildings, generally those built before 1919, make up around 20% of the UK's building stock, including approximately 6 million homes and more than a third of commercial properties. Many of these buildings are listed, located in conservation areas, or recognised as scheduled monuments, requiring specialist skills to repair, maintain and improve.

From supporting net zero goals through retrofit projects to preserving historically and culturally significant places, heritage building work plays a vital role in the construction industry. The RMI (Heritage and Traditional Build) Sector Skills Plan identifies the key skills challenges facing the sector and provides a framework for actions and interventions to help ensure the construction supply chain can meet the needs of those who live, work in and enjoy heritage and traditional buildings.

• Read the full plan (PDF, 1.93MB)

Applications for funding interventions are welcomed. To find out more about how to apply, visit the Sector Skills Plan investment page. Please ensure that your application is aligned to the RMI (Heritage and Traditional Build) Sector Skills Plan, and aims to tackle one or more of the challenges highlighted in the plan.

Upskilling Travel Support Pilot

The upskilling travel support pilot is designed to make specialist heritage training more accessible to employers and encourage workforce upskilling. The pilot provides financial support for employees to access specialist heritage and traditional building skills training that is available only at a limited number of locations across England, Scotland and Wales.

The pilot is open to individuals employed by CITB Levy-registered companies who are undertaking eligible heritage or traditional building skills courses and must travel a significant distance to attend training. To help reduce the financial burden of accessing specialist training, employers can claim reimbursement of up to £335 towards travel and accommodation costs.

James M. Butcher, Deputy Chief Executive of NFB, said: “We’ve identified that accessing the right training for heritage and traditional building can sometimes mean quite literally trekking across to the other side of the country. Given that the costs of attending such specialist training can prove to be prohibitive, CITB is launching a pilot to see whether supporting the costs of this travel can help to boost uptake of specialist courses and in turn help to contribute to a more competent workforce.”

• Speak to your local adviser to claim

Heritage Construction Skills Memorandum of Understanding

Historic England and CITB are developing a five-year memorandum of understanding (MoU) to support the Sector Skills Plan and the wider construction skills priorities of both organisations. As the Government's lead bodies for championing England's heritage and supporting a skilled, inclusive construction workforce, the partnership will help align and coordinate efforts across the sector. The MoU aims to ensure there is a sufficient and competent workforce with the skills needed to preserve, maintain and enhance heritage buildings for future generations.

Competence Frameworks for Heritage Specific Occupations

Competence Frameworks set out and define the competence requirements for individuals across the built environment. They are made up of a Route to Competence and a SKEB document (Skills, Knowledge, Experience & Behaviour) and an Implementation Plan. This project forms part of CITB’s non-sector skills plan work but aligns with the sector skills plan objectives and will rely on the sector advisory group.

Janet McLean, Standards Developer at CITB, said: “As the Building Safety Act comes into effect, individuals are required to prove that they are competent to do the job that they are on site to do, so it’s imperative that we have competence defined for all (in scope) roles. Competence Frameworks will help improve competence by providing clarity and consistency across the heritage sector with links to accredited qualifications and approved training.”

Pipeline Feasibility Study

This project explores whether it is possible to create a detailed national, regional and potentially local forecast of future heritage and traditional building work, and to assess the value of this data to the sector. A published work pipeline could provide employers with greater confidence to invest in skills and training by offering clearer visibility of future demand. It could also help policymakers develop a skills system that better aligns with the needs of heritage and traditional building clients, ensuring the workforce is equipped to meet future demand.

Michael Crowhurst, Heritage Skills Strategy Director at Historic England, said: “We are delighted to be deepening our partnership with CITB to support the development of heritage construction skills. These initial projects to strengthen competence to work on traditional buildings and evidence future demand for work will help create a more skilled, resilient and sustainable workforce capable of meeting the sector’s long-term needs.”

Skills and Knowledge Statements for Heritage and Traditional Build Competencies

To support the production of competence statements for all construction occupations, Historic England has commissioned and produced a set of skills and knowledge statements that can be used in the development of relevant heritage and traditional building work occupations. These statements have been created in consultation with industry and are deemed to be the common basis that is required across all heritage related occupations. While this project supports the Sector Skills Plan, it has been entirely funded by Historic England.

• Read the competence statements

NFB National Heritage Skills Forum

In response to the Sector Skills Plan, the National Federation of Builders has decided to launch its ‘National Heritage Skills Forum’, which will play a similar role to the long-defunct National Heritage Training Group. The Forum will bring together the many voices involved in heritage construction skills, providing sector leadership, strengthening coordination and championing the skills our workforce needs. This project is fully funded by NFB with sponsorship support from other organisations.

Claire Wallbridge, Director of Heritage Skills at NFB, and chair of the Forum said: “I am delighted to lead this important initiative and to work alongside stakeholders, federations and sector partners whose expertise and commitment will be central to its success. By bringing the sector together, we can strengthen collaboration, amplify its collective voice and make a lasting, positive impact on heritage skills.”

• For more information, visit the NFB website